Vue: Your Everyday Smart Glasses

Vue: Your Everyday Smart Glasses

Created by Vue Smart Glasses

Vue is the world's first pair of smart glasses that are designed for everyday use. Offered in prescription, plano, and sunglasses.

Latest Updates from Our Project:

April Update about 2 years ago
– Sat, Apr 29, 2017 at 12:21:26 AM

Happy April!

Thank you everyone for your patience with the prescription surveys. Because of the limited number of HIPAA-compliant survey providers, we had no choice but to split up frame style choices and prescription collection across two platforms. If you chose glasses with prescription lenses but still have not received a survey, please check your spam folder first. Although this seems like a silly suggestion, many backers have overlooked it. Please search for “aaron@enjoyvue.com”, “support@enjoyvue.com”, and a subject of “Vue Prescription Survey”. If you still haven’t found it, please email support@enjoyvue.com and we can help you out.

Manufacturing Update

We’ll get straight to the point: we’ve encountered some technical challenges that have set us back. The issues have required a lot of rearranging of components on our printed circuit board (PCB) and required some shifting of part placement within the glasses. We want to be clear that we are prioritizing a quality product over rushing through things. Trying to implement quick fixes would jeopardize quality given the challenges we’ve been working through. With this in mind, we are scoping the delay at 3 months, until October.

We know this will be upsetting, and we share that feeling with all of you. The tricky part about staying on schedule is that small changes often have cascading effects, and require changes in other areas of the product that then result in longer delays.

That being said, overcoming these challenges absolutely means backers will receive a better product. At the end of the day, one of the hardest parts of manufacturing is picking a date in the future when you don't know what the future holds. Although these unexpected challenges have shown up, taking our time to resolve them is a net-positive for all of you because it means the product will be more reliable. With that said, let’s dive into what we’re working on.

Printed Circuit Board Layout

The effective “brains” of Vue live on the PCB. Things like the microprocessor, Bluetooth chips, amplifiers, microphone, and antennas sit on a thin laminated copper sheet within the glasses. Fitting our PCB into the small space of the glasses has been a challenge.

Our biggest issue has been around optimizing the PCB for production/assembly while keeping its footprint small enough to fit within the glasses. We’re happy to say that we’ve found ways to resolve these issues, but finalizing them is taking time. Here is a breakdown of the work we’ve done:

1) PCB/Battery relocation: Our original design had a battery in one end of the arms and the PCB in the other end, as seen in the technical explosion below.

The battery can be seen on the left, the PCB on the right

While testing various components, we concluded that the battery size was not sufficient to support our features. While we could have sourced a bigger battery, it would mean changing the dimensions of the arms to accommodate it. Instead, we decided to place a second battery where the original PCB was, and then shifted the PCB under the touchpad. The new layout is as seen below.

The two batteries are seen at the ends of the arms, and the PCB (green) is under the touchpad (grey)

This change adds only a minimal amount of weight, approximately 1.7 grams, but adds more battery capacity to help support Vue’s features.

2) Flex PCB: Given the small dimensions of our glasses, it has been challenging to fit our PCB inside the arms. To make sure Vue looks like regular glasses, we have introduced curvature into the arms. This small detail introduces a massive challenge to PCB design, since the PCB is a long rigid board. Our PCB would need to be bent in order to fit safely inside, otherwise it would contact the walls, as seen below.

Contact points of PCB against walls of glasses

Because of this, we need to use flexible printed circuits (FPC) combined with the rigid PCB. The battery and bone conduction transducer are connected via the FPC to the main PCB, as illustrated below. The rigid PCB is just long enough to fit inside the curvature, while the FPC can flex for the remaining length. This has involved a lot of tweaking of the PCB length and temple piece curvature to ensure the best combination of form and function.

How the PCB and FPC fit together

It has taken a lot of time to design how the rigid PCB and FPC will fit together, and we will be testing the assembled version in the coming weeks. The good news is that this enables the electronics to fit inside the glasses without having to increase the width of the arms. Every millimeter of thickness adds weight, which is an important consideration for something worn on the face.

3) Component height: Each component on a PCB varies in height. Some components are barely noticeable while others may rise as much as 1.5mm above the PCB’s surface. We ran into an issue where components in certain locations were too tall for the curved section of the arms of the glasses. In order to resolve this, we’ve had to rearrange the components to ensure the components don’t interfere with the walls of the arms. Unfortunately, rearranging hundreds of small components within a small space is a very tedious task.

4) Chip change: We also decided to switch to a different microprocessor. The previous chip was 6mm in width whereas the new one is 5.5mm in width. Although this seems like a small change, this actually reduces the width of the production PCB which in turn lets us reduce the thickness of the arms by an additional 0.5mm.

View of how component width (red arrow) affects thickness of arms

The chip we switched to is also from a different manufacturer and therefore we have had to do some work to make sure our software is still compatible. Long term, this chip is actually a better choice because a) it is smaller and b) it is a chip more commonly used in wearable devices.

Step Counting Algorithm

Most recently, we tested our step counting algorithm against some leading industry wearable products and found that our accuracy was within 2.5%. This is a great baseline, and we’ll be able to push updates that constantly improve Vue’s ability to track your fitness.

Below are some images of us testing out our algorithms against the accelerometer data, which involves filtering out "noise" from other movements to accurately determine what is actually a step.

What steps look like (peaks) when we filter out noise from other movements

We've also been working on identifying different movements, such as nods or shaking of the head. As mentioned in the campaign, certain head movements could be used to control Vue (like answering/rejecting a phone call), so we'll need to be sure these movements don't get confused with steps.

The change in waveform seen here helps us differentiate between steps and gestures like nodding

Once the noise is filtered, we can count steps, and even do clever things like differentiate between running and walking. In the video below, we walk you through some real-time analysis of the accelerometer data and show you the differences between running and walking.

Bone Conduction Evaluations

In an ideal world, the quality of the audio directly from the bone conduction transducers would be the same as the quality from the transducers mounted in the glasses. However, because the transducers are mounted behind plastic, there will be differences. The following images shows us testing the quality of the transducers mounted in the glasses.

The glasses mounted in a test fixture

To test for differences, we can mount Vue in a test rig and have the transducers play a series of different frequencies. We then mount and test a control sample that plays the same series of frequencies and analyze the differences.

Control transducer (red arrow) sitting within a test rig.

We will be continuing to run tests as we get closer to shipping so we can identify any potential tweaks during manufacturing that can help boost sound quality.

Charging Case

We saw some comments regarding the charging case, so we wanted to show a little more detail on the change. The improved case is substantially smaller and lighter, making it far more portable at this size.

Vue Glasses (left), new case (middle), old case (right)

The new design (left) is much, much slimmer than the old design (right)

We also settled on USB-C. It is obvious that the industry is migrating toward this standard, which will help simplify the charging process across devices. It makes sense for Vue to prepare for this new era and we have therefore committed to USB-C, seen below.

USB-C port with charging light

We will test the new charging cases in conjunction with the revisions to the glasses described above. We will post about our full system evaluations in the next update.

App Updates

In the previous update we showed you some screenshots of the mobile app UI. Below you can see how those designs look on an actual phone. When you first open the Vue app, you'll see the following screen with the choice to "Join Vue" or "Log In" if you already have an account.

A GIF of the intro screen of the Vue app

Below is a quick walkthrough of what the Log In process looks like. We will have the option to use Facebook Login, which will make the on-boarding process faster.

We will continue refining the design of the app and in future updates can start to show you the actual pairing process as well as how to setup and access specific features.

Timeline

Manufacturing requires many careful steps. Here is a high-level plan for the next few months, and what you can expect to see in our monthly updates moving forward:

1) Engineering review units: We will fully assemble units with the new PCB/FPC and battery design and will test them on a full-system level along with the charging case. The glasses will be CNCed from plastic, instead of 3D printed. We’ll do thorough testing to make sure everything meets our technical specs, then we’ll move on to tooling. Expect to see videos and pictures from these tests.

2) Design review units: Here we will work with our manufacturing partners to cut tools for injection molding, make sure the tools meet our specs, and then we’ll run test shots. We’ll assemble units to evaluate our yield rate (how many units fail or break during production). We’ll make small improvements to boost yield and then move on to final testing.

3) Production review units: Here is where we assemble and test our units using our manufacturing processes and final components. This will then transition into mass production if everything meets our specs.

Onward

Thanks to everyone for your continued support on this journey. Delays are bummers, we know that. We wish we could avoid unforeseen bumps in the road. We will continue to work hard so that things can move as fast as possible while still guaranteeing that you will receive a quality product.

As always, shoot us a message or email with concerns, and otherwise stay tuned for our next update. Should be an exciting one!

Prescription Update

Hey everyone, a bit of practical business to start this update off. We mentioned in the previous update that we were planning to charge for upgrades and add-ons. We're going to hold off on charging for these items until we are closer to shipping. We think this is the most responsible way to treat this additional pledge money, so that in the unlikely worst case scenario that we are unable to deliver, we have the ability to return the funds. We know that in rare instances, backers have had bad experiences with other projects, so we wanted to articulate to you that we're taking that unlikely scenario seriously.

We will still move forward with collecting prescriptions, which will occur on March 17th, 2017. The prescription survey will be sent out via email in waves, so it may take a few days for it to show up in your inbox. If you still have not completed your BackerKit survey, you will not receive a prescription survey. You must complete the BackerKit survey before we can send you the prescription survey. Below are some images of the questions you will be asked. Please check them out to get a sense of what type of information you will need.

A preview of the prescription input tool

Note the opening sentence in the survey, which indicates which pair of Vue you are editing. This is especially important for backers that chose multiple pairs—this will indicate which frame you are providing prescription for.

If you did not order progressive lenses, leave Question 2 blank. It is for progressive lenses only. If this is done incorrectly it may cause delays in your shipment when the frames are sent to the lens lab.

Depending on whether your Pupillary Distance (PD) was given to you as one or two numbers, you will be taken to a different page where you will enter the values. See the image below.

Preview of the single PD input screen

Preview of the dual PD input screen

Please reach out to us directly via email or Kickstarter message if you are unsure about your values or if they are in a different format. We will keep this survey open for at least two months for you to make updates, and will notify you in advance when we anticipate closing it. Please note that this email will arrive via SurveyMonkey—make sure it is not going to spam!

Data Privacy

We are using SurveyMonkey because they are compliant with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), a US privacy standard which mandates certain practices when collecting health information. We take the collection of prescription very seriously, and want to ensure that we are using a safe, secure, and compliant platform to store your information. Finding the right HIPAA-compliant tool and setting it up has actually taken a considerable amount of work, but it was the right thing to do for this stage of the process.

Development!

And now on to some exciting development news. Let's start with the biggest updates first.

1. Charging case

In an earlier update we talked about design for manufacturing (DFM) and evaluating our prototypes to make sure they could be more easily manufactured and assembled. During our reviews, we saw an opportunity for improving the charging case. The previous case was heavy and large. A larger footprint for the case would make it less convenient for you to carry around. As this case is meant to be portable, we concluded that it was of paramount importance to make sure this case was smaller and more analogous to a traditional glasses case. We made the decision to change the design to reflect this, and we are really happy with the results.

Classic glasses with new case

The new charging case design

The new charging case design is smaller, lighter, and more closely resembles a traditional glasses case. Check out the video below, where Tiantian can be seen opening and closing it, with the glasses inside. The Vue logo is seen engraved on the top, and the case features a magnetic latch which ensures the case remains shut when you're on the go (which is great for times where it might roll around in a backpack or purse).

In this design, the frames are set into a slot (as seen in the video) where the glasses rest against the charging contacts. This design change was critical and will greatly improve the user experience of Vue, particularly as it relates to portability and charging.

2. Mechanical design

We began noticing variability in the way the arms were folding. Certain frames had asymmetrical folding, which resulted in the arms interfering with each other such that one arm would not fold down, as seen below.

Asymmetrical arm folding

The problem had multiple root causes, primarily being that the hinge-design could not accommodate the thickness of the arms. Because of tolerance variations in previous prototypes, the problem was not always present. We redesigned the hinge so that the arms now lay flush and no longer interfere, as seen below. These are good problems to sort out early, as it would cause headaches and delays if the problem was not identified before mass production.

Hinge design with no interference

In addition to mechanical fixes, we've been working on the the more subtle design elements of the frames. Seen below is the Vue logo engraved into the inside of one of the arms.

Logo on the inside of the arm

We've also added a "Designed by Vue" engraving toward the front of the arms.

Design statement on inside of arm

3. Hardware

We also decided to source new bone conduction transducers. Our previous supplier was having consistent quality issues which resulted in a few problems, including wire detachment. We've since sourced new transducers that are much more reliable. Even upon visual inspection, the difference in quality is easily discernible. In the side-by-side image below, you'll notice that the old transducers (left) have jagged edges and the metal has disfigurements, whereas the new transducers (right) are cleaner cut and smooth.

Old transducers (left) and new transducers (right)

We also decided to change from a 1.3W amplifier to a 2W amplifier, primarily based on real-world feedback that we received (in part from backers!) at CES and elsewhere. Our 1.3W amplifier was simply not yielding volume that was loud enough, which exacerbated the problem of bone conduction being hard to hear in louder environments. We'll be testing our new 2W amplifier to see how it impacts volume.

Work on the printed circuit board has been moving along nicely. In future updates, you'll start to see all of these hardware pieces coming together—at which point we can begin talking about FCC/CE testing, which are critical milestones for consumer electronic products. Below, while not very exciting, is a glimpse of what it looks like to design electronic component layouts on a computer.

Schematic design work

4. Firmware/Software

Although there aren't as many in-process images with this topic, things have been progressing as scheduled. We've finished designing our Bluetooth protocol so our mobile app and device can talk to each other, as well as designed the chip protocol which defines how the Bluetooth and audio chip talk to each other.

Outside of this low-level software, we've also made great progress on our iOS app (don't worry—we'll be doing Android as well!). The app design is constantly being iterated and improved. Below are some of the newest screenshots of the UI.

New designs for iOS app UI

We're also beginning to design the pairing instructions, which is one of the first ways that you will interact with your pair of Vue. Below are some mockups showing the various screens that you will be guided through in order to pair your Vue with your phone.

iOS pairing process

Onward

As we mentioned in our campaign, manufacturing is a dynamic process. We are constantly evaluating our work to make sure that we can deliver a product that we are proud of and that you will love. The changes discussed in this update are exciting and we believe firmly they are going to yield a better product and experience for all of you! As mentioned previously, we tried to build in some buffer time into our timeline to allow for changes like this. This early, it's difficult to see if there are going to be major impacts on delivery. Our schedule is tight and aggressive, but our progress has been steady and diligent. If anything changes, we'll let you know right away.

In the meantime, please review the images of our prescription survey so that you are prepared to provide us the correct information.

Hey everyone—surveys will be sent out over the next few days. We are using BackerKit, which is an awesome platform that makes it easy for you to customize your Vue frames and ensure they get shipped to the correct address!

BackerKit = Frames

Because of certain regulations related to storing prescription information, there will be two parts to our survey. The first part will be via BackerKit, and will allow you to customize your frame's style, color, and lenses as well as provide us with your address. You can also change your pledge, adjust your lens type, or add items like extra charging cases.

The second survey will come later, and will collect your prescription only. You will have approximately one month to complete the frame surveys on BackerKit, after which we will send out surveys to collect your prescription for your frames. That survey will be sent out on a HIPAA compliant platform that ensures our prescription data collection meets regulatory requirements.

How will I get the survey?

BackerKit surveys are sent out via email—so please check your inbox and spam to ensure that you are getting it. Please note the following important info regarding the surveys:

A message will be sent to the email you have associated with your Kickstarter account, the same email where you receive these updates.

If you used Facebook to login to your Kickstarter account, the BackerKit survey link will be sent to the email you used for your Facebook account. If you have another email you prefer it to be sent to, please message us.

How does it work?

When you get the survey you'll be able to see the reward you pledged to and the amount you personally pledged. You'll be asked to select your frame style, frame and temple color, and the lenses that you want. If you choose lenses for which you did not pledge enough money, your price will update, and you'll be able to pledge the difference by using your credit card.

If you wish to change your pledge to a completely different level, you are able to do this by clicking the "Want to switch your pledge level?" button pictured below.

Click the button near the red arrow to change your pledge level

Please note that if you change your pledge or choose lenses for which you didn't already pledge money for, your pledge total will change and you will need to pledge more money via a credit card to make up the difference.

We also have additional items you are able to back, pictured below. These items include additional Vue frames, charging cases, and t-shirts.

Add-on items on BackerKit

Also pay special attention to the lens options. If you select a lens that includes the phrase "non-corrective" it means that there will be no corrective/prescription strength in the lens. That means you will not receive a follow-up survey to collect your prescription.

Questions?

If you have questions regarding the survey, BackerKit, your order, or anything else please don't hesitate to reach out. You will have a while to fill out this info, and we will be here to walk you through it. Message us directly on Kickstarter or at hello@enjoyvue.com.

Chinese New Year

As many of you may know, many people around the world have been celebrating Chinese New Year. This is a huge national holiday in China, and as a result our vendors, partners, suppliers, and more have been on holiday. Things will be booting back up over the next week or so, at which point we'll be back to work with them.

We've still been hard at work preparing this survey and working on the glasses. We'll have some exciting updates coming your way in February. Stay tuned!

with love,

the Vue team

CES 2017 Roundup over 2 years ago
– Tue, Jan 10, 2017 at 11:08:36 PM

Hey backers! As mentioned in the previous update, we had the chance to exhibit at CES 2017 in Las Vegas, Nevada. We wanted to post a quick update to showcase our experience!

For those that are unfamiliar, CES is an annual trade show that showcases new products and technologies in the consumer electronics industry. It's always a busy and chaotic event, with more than 170,000 people attending from around the world. We were in the Eureka Park area of the Venetian hotel, alongside many other startups.

Booth

Setting up the booth at the beginning of the day

Lots of glasses-wearers stopped by

A familiar face! Tiantian with our friend and Vue model, Michael!

Backers!

A few of our backers also managed to stop by to chat. It was so great meeting some of you face-to-face. Below are some images as well as a few brief videos where backers provided us with their impressions of the Vue prototypes!

Awards

The Vue team was honored to receive the SVIEF Innovation Award while at CES. It was a great opportunity—and we received an awesome plaque to go with it!

Receiving the SVIEF Innovation Award (Jason on bottom left)

Onward

Now that CES has ended, it's back to business as usual. We're getting closer with the survey, so expect to see that relatively soon! Conversations with manufacturing partners have been continuing, and we'll be on the ground in the next few weeks to continue DFM improvements to get closer to production.

Happy New Year!

To all our backers from around the world, we wish you a very happy new year! We're off to a solid start in 2017 and wanted to share how things have been going post-campaign and over the holidays. As we mentioned previously, we got to work directly when the campaign ended. Here's an overview of what we have been working on, as well as exciting upcoming activities.

Manufacturing

Jason and Tiantian flew to China to participate in design reviews with our manufacturing partners. Seen below, Jason and our partners are discussing our latest prototype. This phase is often referred to as Design for Manufacturing (DFM) and involves reviewing and tweaking product designs in order to ensure manufacturability.

As these meetings continue and improvements come to fruition, we'll share photos with you. Expect some exciting images as we get further into the process!

Jason (far left) in preliminary design review meetings

Some recent prototypes ready for assembly

Lenses

In addition to reviewing the design of the frames, we've been evaluating the various types of lenses that will ship in each pair of Vue. Tiantian even had her own prescription lenses manufactured and installed in her pair of Vue so that she can test out the full experience each day.

Just this past week, we received and inspected sample lenses. We also toured a lens surfacing line to better understand how the lenses are made. Check out some of the cool videos below to see how what it looks like when your lenses are being made!

Events

Whenever we travel to China, we work out of a co-working space through the HAX accelerator program. It's a busy place, and whenever we arrive there seems to be something exciting going on. Most recently, HAX held a Demo Day where alumni companies (including us) had the opportunity to present their product to a crowd of Asia-based investors. Tiantian gave a brief pitch and demo to the crowd pictured below.

Tiantian is toward the top right, behind the sea of hands

CES

We'll be at CES 2017 in Las Vegas! We'd love to meet some of our Kickstarter backers face-to-face. We will be part of the HAX booth on January 7th at Eureka Park 51639. Swing by to chat with us and see the prototypes. Feel free to shoot us an email if you are there and looking to connect! If you're around, keep an eye out for the flyers below, which we've designed for CES.

Our CES flyer that we'll hand out from our booth

Hiring

The Vue team is growing! We're looking for experienced and enthusiastic people who are excited about smart glasses and new wearable technology. Check out the opportunities below and shoot us any recommendations you have to hello@enjoyvue.com.

Production Lead

Software Engineer (iOS)

Software Engineer (Android)

Electrical Engineer

Firmware Engineer

Kickstarter Survey

We're hard at work preparing your survey. Because we are collecting sensitive prescription information, we have to abide by regulatory standards that most projects do not have to deal with. More specifically, some organizations that collect Protected Health Information (PHI) must adhere to standards defined in the HIPAA Privacy Rule (a US regulation). Unfortunately, the rules are dense, so we've had to consult with lawyers to make sure we are compliant. Moreover, not every software vendor is able to collect this data, meaning we've had to abandon, evaluate, and test out other tools before building the survey.

We also have quite a few customization options, which makes each order complex. Although the survey may look straightforward as you move through it, on the backend we need to make sure that all the data is clear and organized so that we can export it in a workable format for our manufacturing partners.

Because of these extra requirements that we must deal with, the survey requires a lot of work and time—but we're almost there! The challenges will not affect project timelines, but they are tedious! We're putting the final touches on the survey and will have it ready soon. We are targeting early January for release. We will post an update here and email backers directly once it is ready, so keep an eye out for that!

2017

Throughout this journey, we'll aim to post a minimum of one update a month on Kickstarter so you can keep track of our progress. Moving forward, updates will get progressively more technical and manufacturing-focused, especially as we start to evaluate units with our manufacturing partners. We're excited to share the process with you!